Powerful People & Population Control

"In the eight years that I have been a part-time propagandist, I have found that many people in influential positions share my concern. I have had encouraging letters from all over the world. People in radio and television have been extremely helpful in providing exposure for the issues." - Paul Ehrlich, 1968 (p159)

But Ehrlich is only one man, albeit a well connected Stanford University professor, but still just an individual. Who else is involved in these types of population control schemes?

United States Government

"In late 1970. Congress finally placed the Family Planning Services and Population Research Act to provide free contraception to the poor through non-profit agencies. It also established an Office of Population Affairs in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to sponsor further research on birth control." - 85

"Beginning with Senators Ernest Gruening and Joseph Clark in the middle 1960s, there has been a small group of dedicated people in Congress who have been trying to get the government to move on these matters. More recently, the ball has been carried by Senators Joseph Tydings and Robert Packwood, and Representatives Paul McCloskey,George Bush, and James Scheuer." [emphasis mine] - 86

"The United Nations has greatly increased its family planning activities, operation through several agencies including WHO [World Health Organization], UNICEF, and UNESCO [United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization]. Secretary Generat U Thant has been urged by a study group to establish a special "world population institute" promptly to take practical action against population growth. Robert McNamara, president of the World Bank, has put population projects high on the Bank's list of priorities. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is also getting into the field." - 84

Foundations

"In March 1970, a two-year Commission on Population Growth and the American Future was established under the chairmanship of John D. Rockefeller, III."

"Aside from government contributions, private foundations such as Ford and Rockefeller are becoming more involved in programs, both for research and overseas family planning projects." - 86

Zero Population Growth

"But a new organization exists - Zero Population Growth - whose mission is to educate the public and politicians to the necessity for stopping population growth as soon as possible, to lobby for legislation, and to work for politicians who support the same goals. ZPG now has more than 30,000 members and is growing fast. Hopefully it will have developed some real political clout by 1972." - 88

Ehrlich forgets to mention in his book that he founded Zero Population Growth with Richard Bowers and Charles Remington. This organization is still going strong under a new name:Population Connection.

Scientists

Ehrlich, a self proclaimed propagandist, also believes that his fellow scientists, namely biologists, should be much more involved in the "education" of the masses.

"Biologists must promote understanding of the facts of reproductive biology which relate to matters of abortion and contraception. They must do more than simply reiterate the facts of population dynamics. They must point out the biological absurdity of equating a zygote (the cell created by joining of sperm and egg) or fetus (unborn child) with a human being... People are people because of the interaction of genetic information (stored in a chemical language) with an environment. Clearly, the most "humanizing" element of that environment is the cultural element to which the child is not exposed until after birth... in many cases abortion is more desirable than childbirth." - 138

Environmental Groups

The interconnectedness of the environmental movement and the population control fanatics is undeniable and I will examine some of the similarities between The Population Bomb and Al Gore'sAn Inconvenient Truth in the next article of this series. But for now, some of the more obvious environmental connections.

The forward to the The Population Bomb was written by David Brower, the founder of Sierra Club Foundation, the John Muir Institute for Environmental Studies, Friends of the Earth, the League of Conservation Voters, Earth Island Institute (1982), North Cascades Conservation Council, and Fate of the Earth Conferences.

Professor Ehrlich is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Professor Ehrlich has received several honorary degrees, the John Muir Award of the Sierra Club, the Gold Medal Award of the World Wildlife Fund International, a MacArthur Prize Fellowship, the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (given in lieu of a Nobel Prize in areas where the Nobel is not given), in 1993 the Volvo Environmental Prize, in 1994 the United Nations' Sasakawa Environment Prize, in 1995 the Heinz Award for the Environment, in 1998 the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement and the Dr. A. H. Heineken Prize for Environmental Sciences, in 1999 the Blue Planet Prize, in 2001 the Eminent Ecologist Award of the Ecological Society of America and the Distinguished Scientist Award of the American Institute of Biological Sciences.